Big Plays Give Plainville Win Over Tolland Football

What was a savior for the Tolland football team last week proved to be a harbinger of doom in a 42-19 loss to Plainville Saturday afternoon at Tolland High School.

In the opener against Weaver, the Eagles scored on the first play from scrimmage on Tucker Hewitt’s 72-yard scamper and coasted to a 53-6 win. But this time, the opponent scored on their first play, as the Blue Devils'  Tony Lopizzo hit a streaking Dan Bates along the right hash mark for a 50-yard touchdown.

The quick score came thanks to a special teams blunder by Tolland, who hit the first two kickoffs out of bounds. Plainville made the Eagles’ Jamison Boucher re-kick each time, with Adam Foster eventually taking the third try to midfield.

“We put ourselves on our heels with a couple kickoffs that weren’t where they were supposed to be,” Tolland head coach Andy Bourquin said.

Tolland almost responded with another first play score, but an illegal block wiped a 73-yard Hewitt touchdown run. The Eagles wound up turning over the ball when Chris Byam’s fourth-down pass was broken up by a Plainville defender in the end zone.

Two plays later, Lopizzo and Bates struck again, this time from 77-yards out. Nick Moshier’s kick put Plainville up 14-0 at 6:54 in the opening quarter.

“That helped everyone get into the game,” Lopizzo (5-of-5, 164 yards, two touchdowns) said of the early pass plays.  “We saw their corners playing in a little bit, so we tried [the big play].

The senior quarterback said Plainville was well aware of Tolland’s early strike last week.

“We watched it over and over again on film, and we knew we couldn’t let it happen again on the first play. It almost did, but we got lucky. We used [last week] as motivation not to let it happen to us.”

While the Blue Devils came out throwing the ball, it was their ground game that helped carry them the rest of the game, as Lopizzo, Foster, Kevin Waite, and Chris Kuiza combined for 258 yards and 4 touchdowns on 31 carries. Waite and Foster darted to the outside on tosses and stretch plays, while Kuiza hit the middle of the Tolland defense for 69 bruising yards on eight carries.  

"We did a great job running the ball,” Plainville head coach Chris Farrell said. “We were rotating four guys, which was excellent because we were able to keep everyone fresh.”

Tolland made it 14-7 at the end of the first quarter on a one-yard keeper by Byam, but the junior co-captain lofted a pass under pressure that was picked off by Plainville on the next drive, and the Blue Devils made it 28-7 at half on Lopizzo’s one-yard run.

Hewitt (10 carries, 122 yards) ripped off a 72-yard touchdown run early in the fourth, and Jarren Jones scored Tolland’s final touchdown on a nine-yard toss late in the final quarter.

“I don’t remember them punting today, so that tells you everything,” Bourquin said. “This was 100 percent Plainville. They made all the big plays, and we made none of the big plays.”

Byam was 4-of-6 for 29 yards, all to Boucher, while also adding a touchdown and 48 yards on 13 carries. Bates finished with three catches for 133 yards and two scores for Plainville (1-1), which made it to the Class M playoffs last year.

Due to technical problems, the game was played without a scoreboard, as the officials kept time on the field. Tolland (1-1) travels to Berlin Friday at 7 p.m.